App-vNext/Polly · error · ArgumentOutOfRangeException

Value must be greater than zero.

Error message

Value must be greater than zero.

What it means

Thrown by the legacy v7 async AdvancedCircuitBreakerAsync<T> (generic TResult) syntax when failureThreshold is zero or negative. failureThreshold is the failure ratio (0,1] for opening the circuit. Fires at policy construction time.

Source

Thrown at src/Polly/CircuitBreaker/AsyncAdvancedCircuitBreakerTResultSyntax.cs:221

    /// <param name="onReset">The action to call when the circuit resets to a <see cref="CircuitState.Closed"/> state.</param>
    /// <param name="onHalfOpen">The action to call when the circuit transitions to <see cref="CircuitState.HalfOpen"/> state, ready to try action executions again. </param>
    /// <returns>The policy instance.</returns>
    /// <remarks>(see "Release It!" by Michael T. Nygard fi).</remarks>
    /// <exception cref="ArgumentOutOfRangeException">failureThreshold;Value must be greater than zero.</exception>
    /// <exception cref="ArgumentOutOfRangeException">failureThreshold;Value must be less than or equal to one.</exception>
    /// <exception cref="ArgumentOutOfRangeException">samplingDuration;Value must be equal to or greater than the minimum resolution of the CircuitBreaker timer.</exception>
    /// <exception cref="ArgumentOutOfRangeException">minimumThroughput;Value must be greater than one.</exception>
    /// <exception cref="ArgumentOutOfRangeException">durationOfBreak;Value must be greater than zero.</exception>
    /// <exception cref="ArgumentNullException">Thrown when <paramref name="onBreak"/> is <see langword="null"/>.</exception>
    /// <exception cref="ArgumentNullException">Thrown when <paramref name="onReset"/> is <see langword="null"/>.</exception>
    /// <exception cref="ArgumentNullException">Thrown when <paramref name="onHalfOpen"/> is <see langword="null"/>.</exception>
    public static AsyncCircuitBreakerPolicy<TResult> AdvancedCircuitBreakerAsync<TResult>(this PolicyBuilder<TResult> policyBuilder, double failureThreshold, TimeSpan samplingDuration, int minimumThroughput, TimeSpan durationOfBreak, Action<DelegateResult<TResult>, CircuitState, TimeSpan, Context> onBreak, Action<Context> onReset, Action onHalfOpen)
    {
        var resolutionOfCircuit = TimeSpan.FromTicks(AdvancedCircuitController<EmptyStruct>.ResolutionOfCircuitTimer);

        if (failureThreshold <= 0)
        {
            throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(failureThreshold), "Value must be greater than zero.");
        }

        if (failureThreshold > 1)
        {
            throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(failureThreshold), "Value must be less than or equal to one.");
        }

        if (samplingDuration < resolutionOfCircuit)
        {
            throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(samplingDuration), $"Value must be equal to or greater than {resolutionOfCircuit.TotalMilliseconds} milliseconds. This is the minimum resolution of the CircuitBreaker timer.");
        }

        if (minimumThroughput <= 1)
        {
            throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(minimumThroughput), "Value must be greater than one.");
        }

        if (durationOfBreak < TimeSpan.Zero)

View on GitHub (pinned to d0e46bdb1e)

Solutions

1. Set failureThreshold to a ratio in (0,1] (e.g. 0.5).
2. Validate the configured value is in (0,1] at startup.
3. Guard against zero denominators when computing the ratio.

Example fix

// before
Policy.HandleResult<HttpResponseMessage>(r => !r.IsSuccessStatusCode)
    .AdvancedCircuitBreakerAsync(
        failureThreshold: 0,
        samplingDuration: TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10),
        minimumThroughput: 10,
        durationOfBreak: TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30),
        onBreak: (_, __, ___, ____) => { },
        onReset: _ => { },
        onHalfOpen: () => { });

// after
Policy.HandleResult<HttpResponseMessage>(r => !r.IsSuccessStatusCode)
    .AdvancedCircuitBreakerAsync(
        failureThreshold: 0.5,
        ...);

if (failureThreshold <= 0 || failureThreshold > 1)
    throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(failureThreshold), "failureThreshold must be in (0,1].");

static bool IsValidFailureThreshold(double t) => t > 0 && t <= 1;

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Policy.HandleResult<T>(...).AdvancedCircuitBreakerAsync(failureThreshold: 0, ...). The check is `failureThreshold <= 0`.

Common situations: Missing config defaulting to 0, or a dynamically computed ratio that yields 0.

Related errors

• Value must be less than or equal to one.
• Value must be greater than one.
• Value must be greater than zero.
• Value must be greater than zero.
• Value must be less than or equal to one.

AI-assisted analysis of App-vNext/Polly@d0e46bdb1e (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0118e01f7cff0b01. Report an issue: GitHub.